London, England Apparatus

[PFDRes47cue 653]

Pictures of carious apparatus that I came across on my trip to London this past summer (2009).

Edited November 8, 2009 by PFDRes47cue

[cas2383 22]

Yeah I saw quite a few of the BMW police cars while there this summer too. Did you notice all their fire hydrants were underground, pretty different and hard to find for sure.

[PFDRes47cue 653]

Yeah I saw quite a few of the BMW police cars while there this summer too. Did you notice all their fire hydrants were underground, pretty different and hard to find for sure.

I did notice the underground fire hydrant. Very hard to find indeed. I assume the hydrants are underground simply to eliminate the threat of vandalism or misuse as you see with almost every NYC hydrant. I can not think of any other reasons.

Edited November 9, 2009 by PFDRes47cue

[Bnechis 3,961]

I did notice the underground fire hydrant. Very hard to find indeed. I assume the hydrants are underground simply to eliminate the threat of vandalism or misuse as you see with almost every NYC hydrant. I cna not think of any other reasons.

Same system all over europe. In Paris they are 100' apart, with offset on the opposite side so every 50' there is a hydrant. The FF's in the Paris Fire Brigade showed me that even in snow, all they do is drag there foot about 1 foot from the curb and they find them. Then they only need one 50' length of supply line, thats why they do not need hose beds.

Also, the main reason is war. above ground hydrants can be damaged by artilary, bombs and building falling on them. Then the drinking water can be contaminated during the open flow from the damaged Hydrant.

On a seperate note: nice red police vehicles with NFPA fear ends. lol

Good thing its not London, NY (if there is one) lots of blue lights for EMTBravo comments.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

I may be mistaken, but I think the red police "livery" signifies Firearms Officers and Diplomatic Security, among other "SO" or Special Operations, units. As you may or may not know, most English Police Officers do not carry firearms. The yellow dot on the windshield of the red cars also signifies armed officers.

Edited November 8, 2009 by SageVigiles

[KC2OBW 1]

Thanks for sharing, Definitely interesting with Paramedics on motorbikes

[EFFD4091-MLSS emt 13]

Is it me or Irony that they use all the reflective they can but still mostly use halogen rotators and flashers....

[M' Ave 1,466]

I've ridden with the London F.B. and they're a good bunch! They use high pressure, small diameter hose. A typical attack is to open the door and shoot a high pressure stream in, the steam then snuffs the fire. This works well for them, with largely masonry buildings.

Also, ladders are fewer and further between, more of a special apparatus for them. Beyond that, I don't know how they work. I've never seen them operate at a job.

[ny10570 745]

Is it me or Irony that they use all the reflective they can but still mostly use halogen rotators and flashers....

More and brighter lights have never been shown to decrease accidents. In fact the large number of bright lights at accident scenes is thought to be responsible for many additional accidents. The only argument for brighter lights is the increased visibility distance. Only catch is incandescent and halogen lighting is visible well outside the reaction range of an attentive driver. Rolling light shows do nothing to alter the fact that drivers are not paying attention.

[Truck4 48]

London was a great time. Lots of great firefighting history.

[Guest TCA-ALS25]

London was a great time. Lots of great firefighting history.

I had a station up the street from my hotel last time I was in London ('05). Which house was this?

[Guest TCA-ALS25]

I've ridden with the London F.B. and they're a good bunch! They use high pressure, small diameter hose. A typical attack is to open the door and shoot a high pressure stream in, the steam then snuffs the fire. This works well for them, with largely masonry buildings.

Also, ladders are fewer and further between, more of a special apparatus for them. Beyond that, I don't know how they work. I've never seen them operate at a job.

Most of LFB's apparatus is the equivalent of having 55' to 75' quints (the one's with an apparatus ident of DPL####). Having straight up ladders are only necessary on high-occupancy or high-rise areas.

[abaduck 123]

PFDRes47cue, you were lucky not to end up in jail. OK OK slight exaggeration there, but there IS a new law in the UK which can be interpreted as making it illegal to take photographs of police if such photos could be 'of use to terrorists'. It's a VERY controversial topic in the UK at the moment, and some elements in the police there are already pretty hostile to photographers.

[weaselff 6]

A lot of people forget that many countries including those in Western Europe are not democracies as we think of in the American sense. They don't have a bill of rights or a constitution garunteeing freedom of speech, miranda rights etc.

quote name='abaduck' date='13 November 2009 - 11:11 PM' timestamp='1258171913' post='196597']

PFDRes47cue, you were lucky not to end up in jail. OK OK slight exaggeration there, but there IS a new law in the UK which can be interpreted as making it illegal to take photographs of police if such photos could be 'of use to terrorists'. It's a VERY controversial topic in the UK at the moment, and some elements in the police there are already pretty hostile to photographers.

[Monty 35]

I did notice the underground fire hydrant. Very hard to find indeed. I assume the hydrants are underground simply to eliminate the threat of vandalism or misuse as you see with almost every NYC hydrant. I can not think of any other reasons.

As well as hydrant lcations being contained in map books on the apparatus, they are also marked on the street. I believe the markings are main size and distance from the sign (in metric figutres).

[trauma74 111]

I do like the fact that they use A LOT of reflective material on all of their emergency vehicles. The "Checker Board" pattern and the "DOT" style stripes are a nice combination. Many agencies do not like the "Checker Board" patterns, but at some of the most recent EMS & Fire Expos that I have been to, the apparatus makers are starting to add this type of reflective pattern to their new "safer" ambulances and FD vehicles.

When it comes to prevention of accidents when on scene, the striping does a lot more for visibility of vehicles than the lights do. The lights often cause more problems because motorists are blinded by them. Think about how much brighter the LEDs are compared to the halogen and strobe lights.

Also, you draw less attention to your vehicles when you have less red/white/blue lights on. When people see red/white and blue lights it draws their interest to what is going on. Many studies have suggested that the only colored lights that should be kept on when you are on scene should be amber lights. They say that the amber lights make the members of the public think that a tow truck or a DOT or some type of utility vehicle is working on the side of the road and they are less likely to stop or slow down to see what is going on, like "rubber-necking" on the highway.

[abaduck 123]

I do like the fact that they use A LOT of reflective material on all of their emergency vehicles. The "Checker Board" pattern and the "DOT" style stripes are a nice combination. Many agencies do not like the "Checker Board" patterns, but at some of the most recent EMS & Fire Expos that I have been to, the apparatus makers are starting to add this type of reflective pattern to their new "safer" ambulances and FD vehicles.

They're called 'Battenburg' markings and wikipedia have a good page on them:

http://en.wikipedia....enburg_markings

They're pretty much universal in the UK, I'm not sure they'll ever catch on here... tradition!

When it comes to prevention of accidents when on scene, the striping does a lot more for visibility of vehicles than the lights do. The lights often cause more problems because motorists are blinded by them. Think about how much brighter the LEDs are compared to the halogen and strobe lights.

Also, you draw less attention to your vehicles when you have less red/white/blue lights on. When people see red/white and blue lights it draws their interest to what is going on. Many studies have suggested that the only colored lights that should be kept on when you are on scene should be amber lights. They say that the amber lights make the members of the public think that a tow truck or a DOT or some type of utility vehicle is working on the side of the road and they are less likely to stop or slow down to see what is going on, like "rubber-necking" on the highway.

If I'm approaching an incident scene on a highway at night, what catches my eye is the NUMBER of lights in use... between FD, ambulances, troopers, and wreckers, there's a veritable forest of strobing lights - I can quite see how Joe Public could get disoriented; it can be almost epilepsy-inducing! What the answer is, I'm not quite sure. I think what *might* be an interesting study would be seeing how people respond to random strobing vs. all apparatus on a scene strobing 'in sync' if you see what I mean; I think that might lessen the disorientation effect.

Edited November 28, 2009 by abaduck

[PFDRes47cue 653]

PFDRes47cue, you were lucky not to end up in jail. OK OK slight exaggeration there, but there IS a new law in the UK which can be interpreted as making it illegal to take photographs of police if such photos could be 'of use to terrorists'. It's a VERY controversial topic in the UK at the moment, and some elements in the police there are already pretty hostile to photographers.

I was not aware of that law, but it makes sense. I stood right in front of them with their high power machine guns and they did not say anything. I guess I did luck out!